


Punch me in the face!

by flyingisabetterwordforfalling (FlyingFalling)



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Awkwardness, Childhood Friends, Complicated Relationships, Conventions, Cosplay, Enemies to Friends, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Multi, Past Relationship(s), Polyamory, Rugby, Shipping, Theatre
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-01 09:06:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8618194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingFalling/pseuds/flyingisabetterwordforfalling
Summary: Nevertheless, he had agreed to cosplay her OTP with her, at least once she had told him what that meant. Apparently Molly Hooper and Sherlock Holmes from the new series Sherlock were her one true pairing -even though she would have liked to ask one of her friends if he would like to tag along to portray another character as well, one she also shipped Sherlock with. Merlin had made the absolute wrong decision of asking her what shipping meant, her eyes had been slightly dreamy and, to be honest, he had been slightly scared or scarred or even both...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is for a friend, who send me a picture of Merlin and Arthur as Sherlock and John and thus this story pretty much wrote itself... thank you for inspiring me to finally write something about Merlin. :)

 

 

  
Enough was enough, she might be his best friend and by now kind of his flat mate -without ever actually having moved in- and yet occupying another person's bathroom for so long was just mean. Even more so when said person had to get ready for the costume competition as well.  
  
Still, he would not be Merlin if he would not be worrying about her, knowing how much time she had already spent in there trying to insert her contact lenses -she hated them, even more so due to her chosen character having the same eye colour as her, which in her opinion was not worth wearing them at all, if they were just her normal ones with prescription and not coloured lenses. Despite that she would not make it out of the house if she was not wearing them and she refused to wear her glasses even more, stating they would ruin her outfit.  
  
Merlin had slightly giggled at her explanation of wearing contact lenses only being worth it when they were for a costume. He had wisely kept his mouth shut, his eye sight was better than hers and his character also had almost the same eye colour as him which in his best friend's opinion was just unfair.  
  
Nevertheless, he had agreed to cosplay her OTP with her, at least once she had told him what that meant. Apparently Molly Hooper and Sherlock Holmes from the new series Sherlock were her one true pairing -even though she would have liked to ask one of her friends if he would like to tag along to portray another character as well, one she also shipped Sherlock with. Merlin had made the absolute wrong decision of asking her what shipping meant, her eyes had been slightly dreamy and, to be honest, he had been slightly scared or scarred or even both... Despite that, fans and fandoms seemed alright -even though some opinions of said fans sometimes seemed to be very rich in contrast.... However, it in fact did not take long for Merlin to explain he would not be comfortable portraying a couple with any other person than a close friend, meaning Gwen.    
  
Said friend was by now groaning in frustration, muttering angrily to herself inside the bath.  
  
"I think I stabbed at least one eye with these things!" She yelled back once he asked her if she was alright or needed some kind of help.  
  
"I have to make sure my cheekbones look alright."  
  
"Don't cut yourself with them, sweetheart."  
  
He joked, in an attempt to get her to calm down and not just angrily throw the contacts and their container through the room. He got the answer he had been hoping for, grinning to himself while trying to somehow get his tie to at least look as if he knew what he was doing or aiming for. There was a reason why he almost never wore suits, or tied ties for that matter. Their graduation dance had been horrible, or actually not. The first few hours had been nice.  
  
It had been alright, still there had been this one rugby player who had at one point managed to almost break his legs. They had fought, verbally and then physically, had even managed to wrestle one another to the ground and Lance -almost the only nice rugby player he knew at that time- actually had to drag Merlin away from that brat who fooled people by looking like an adult, Gwen's words not theirs.       
  
Still, he should not have looked over at them afterwards when most of them were leaving already. Lance, had been holding hands with Gwen who had still been fuming with silent rage, and it did not matter that she looked tiny and vulnerable while doing so. That had always been her greatest strength.  
  
She was swearing loudly at the time a certain someone left the festivities as well, thus attracted his attention, not that Merlin had been waiting for him to finally leave, to maybe even apologize for being rude to him. The two of them had never actually gotten along, even though Merlin had hoped that all of them would say goodbye at least this once being on good terms with each other. Then the rugby player had been looking Merlin directly in the eye, for a moment making him focus entirely on the bright blue eyes in front of him, given him a faint smile and then called him a fairy.  
Merlin, who had been taller than him after his latest growth spurt had simply leaned down a little, returned his smile and broken his nose. Only vaguely hearing Lance's outraged "Merlin!" while slightly enjoying the shocked expression of the young man in front of him, who had then already been clutching his bloodied nose.  
  
Merlin had never been one of the aggressive type, but it was slightly worth it in the end, even though he still felt bad about having hurt another person. That damn wanker had been waiting for it, for years, despite Merlin's firm intention to stay calm he told himself for months after the incident. It had been the last straw and well, in the end he broke his hand in the progress and both of them had to be taken to the hospital. Still, worth it.    
  
Now he was leaning against his door, almost stumbled into the bath once the door was being opened. Then there she was, her by now almost completely straight hair framing her face  until Gwen finally pulled it back into a ponytail. Dramatically bowing down as she made way for him to move past her and finally use his curling iron to at least somehow manage to look like Sherlock.  
  
His oldest cat had taken a liking to his curly wig and Merlin did not have the heart to take his new sleeping place away from the black and in his opinion adorable and slightly chubby cat. The tiny kitten Merlin had rescued a few months ago during one of his hiking tours, with Leon and Percy, had been taken home immediately as well. At first he had wanted to give her away, with his entire group of friends protesting at the very thought of that. Gaius, his elderly neighbour had even given him all the supplies he still kept or rather had not yet gotten rid of of his old cat, who unfortunately had died only days before.  
  
Merlin had named her Aithusa, and even Kilgharrah had become rather fond of her. Slightly feeling miserable for hours after his neighbour had come by, and eventually Merlin had gone over and asked him if he would like to take the kitten as his own. Gaius had just smiled at him, then politely declined his offer to take the pet by telling him such an old man as himself should not consider taking care of such a young and active little thing like Aithusa.  
  
Still, the cat seemed to think differently because she seemed to have chosen the elderly man as, at least, her part-time owner. Soon the entire street would have kind of adopted his cat, Merlin thought, not that it bothered him too much. It was all too easy to grow fond of her after all. It was due to her, that his other cat had stolen the wig and then made it into a nest for the little kitten before Merlin could even go out and buy an actual pet blanket for her. He should have called her princess instead.  
  
Jokingly Gwen had even asked, after they had watched the entire first and second season of Sherlock in one evening, if he would rather like to cosplay Molly instead of her crush. According to his best friend, she was somewhat of a crazy cat lady, meaning she loved cats almost as much as him Gwen told him. Sniffling dramatically he had told her he would die alone with his cats being the only ones who would ever understand and love him.  
  
Gwen had rolled over from her side of the bed and attacked him with her pillow, tickling him until he finally added his mother, his then-boyfriend William, their friends and then at one point her to the list of people who loved him as well.  
  
  
Now Merlin reaches for her hair, and makes sure some lose strands are neatly tucked away.  
  
"You could just have bought a wig, you know."  
  
She huffs, mockingly pinches his cheek.  
  
"Sure, we medical students are wealthy enough to afford an entire wardrobe full of costumes, wigs, contact lenses and all that pricy fancy stuff. I like my hair the way it is, despite I don't look like Molly at all..."  
  
She actually snorts, when he tells her she indeed does not look like her, because Gwen is even cuter than her before she unties his tie and makes it finally look decent enough for him to be seen in public.  
  
"Come on, my great detective, get your coat on. Let's go, and don't forget to be mysterious!"  
  
 "You're annoying as hell, you know that, Gwen?"  
  
"I see, you're in character already. -Seriously, the game is on, let's go. We're late."     


 


	2. Chapter 2

For a while now he had felt someone slightly pulling at the side of his coat, knowing it was Gwen who once more had almost lost him in the crowd of people, who seemingly seemed to come from every direction at once. Merlin would not have thought that conventions could actually be that stressful.  
  
They in fact had already lost someone at one of the booths, one moment Gwen had turned around to wave at a friend, with Merlin turning around to greet the person as well and then Percival had just been gone. Several attempts to send him a text had failed, due to none of them actually being able to use their mobiles in here at all. Thus there was no way to assure him they would still meet up in one of the halls to get to the BBC series meeting area.  
  
Still, Merlin was certain they would find him in the end... How difficult could it actually be to find a man of his height among all these people. Well, most of them wore costumes, and his was not as extravagant or flashy as most of them seemed to be. Thus, it could actually take some time to find him again.  
  
Gwen led the way, once they had left the booths behind or at least the part of the building were most people usually stayed if they came here for the first time, without knowing where they should go first as his friends had told the still kind of overwhelmed Merlin. Not seeing the point in staying here and waiting for their friend, they decided that he was old enough to be able to find the meeting area on his own.  
Then Gwen proudly added she had been here for years, with several friends of theirs, and had wanted to take him with her for so long and yet she did not have the courage to directly ask him to join her.  
  
"You were with Will and, and as you now know I mostly cosplay couples with close friends or with an entire group and wouldn't it have been strange to ask you, while you were in a relationship at that time?"  
  
Merlin was almost rolling his eyes at the way she was phrasing her concern.  
  
"And here I was, afraid you might not want me to meet all your cool and exiting cosplayer friends, because I've never even worn a costume outside our rehearsals and stage performances... Will knew we were both crushing on the same bloke years ago, even before we started dating."  
  
She looked up at him, tugging at his scarf to get him to actually meet her gaze.  
  
"Knew it, you still have that dreamy tone when you talk about him."  
  
They both knew she was not talking about William, who had moved away about three years ago which beforehand had led to him and Merlin breaking up, deciding a long distance relationship was not what they wanted. After all, they had somehow managed to stay friends, despite never actually getting as close again as they had been before.  
Merlin had never asked and yet he had felt it when Will had given him a farewell gift, a red scarf, which he had then gently put around his neck, kissing his cheek as he had always done, even when they were children and other kids made fun of Merlin for back then almost only having Will as his friend, for being strange and an outsider.  
It had been odd at first, seeing the red scarf next to the blue one in his wardrobe.  
  
Both had been presents from people he cared, or had cared, about. With one of them having terminated their relationship because he felt Merlin could not actually get over the other person who had given him the second scarf: in the end it had been almost the same with the other person as well.  
  
One had moved to America and the other was now a stage actor and apparently, if the local gossip about him was true, engaged to a pretty, young actress who he had met while working together. Merlin had watched the play, seated as far away from the stage as possible, to not be seen by anyone he might know. However, it had been Elena who had recognized him in the end and after hurrying after him, she eventually had met Merlin outside the theatre, asking him with a warm smile why he could not stay a bit longer to meet other old classmates of theirs as well.  
  
Then she went on that she recently had gotten engaged, showing him her engagement ring while talking about her dream wedding and that her and her partner would try to become parents in the near future. Despite being in a bit of a shock, Merlin had not forgotten his good manners, congratulating her over and over again, and yet still asked her not to tell anyone he had been there that evening. He made up an ex, one of the actors without actually telling her a name. Elena had nodded with a knowing smile and hugged him, wishing him good luck for his future as well when she finally said good-bye.  
  
She was a very sweet woman, with a lively personality which made it impossible for him not to like her, even though he hoped a little he could. Even so long ago, when they had been teenagers, she had always had this certain aura. People loved her from the very first second they met her. Unlike certain other classmates.  
  
Trying not to think about all that anymore Merlin tried to focus on his best friend's chatter about all the little details she had already told him on their way here and yet, he had promised to join, owed it to her to have fun instead of thinking of people he did not want to talk about.  
  
 "I don't, he's always ever been an ass."  
  
She raised one of her brows and Merlin knew she would take this as a challenge.  
  
"Not that that part of his was not nice to look at..."  
  
There it was, of course.  
  
"He's only ever been nice to look at when he was not facing me."  
  
At that she whistled and Merlin blushed, felt his cheeks getting warm.  
  
"What might we be thinking about, sweetheart?"  
  
"Oh, shut it."  
  
"Will not."  
  
By the time they finally made it out of the crowd, in the middle of their little banter, they were interrupted by Gwaine, appearing out of nowhere, excitedly running towards them, almost falling over his own coat in the progress. He had been in love with the character he was now portraying for so long and always been complaining bitterly about not being able to sew at all, that Gwen at one point had forced him to let her take his measurements. Almost a year later she presented him his very own coat as a birthday present. From then on he could finally be Captain Jack Harkness.  
  
It was unusual to see him without his mop of curls, but with his hair neatly gelled back and yet, according to Merlin, it was even stranger seeing Percival with actual hair on his head, or a wig for that matter. Or for once not in a t-shirt and shorts. What had surprised them all was the fact that they did not even have to persuade him to join their group, because Percival had been a fan of Torchwood for years as well, and had thus agreed to a couple's cosplay.  
  
  
Gwen, at one point, had even been joking she felt slightly underdressed with all her friends wearing suits and coats and her only wearing a lab coat, the only somewhat formal item of clothes being her flowery blouse.  
  
They had all told her she looked stunning, and amazing and badass.  
  
"Stop it, you're making me blush."  
  
At that Gwaine had started to snort, managing to answer with a serious expression.  
  
"That's not your line, dear. Or are you cosplaying the Doctor now?"  
  
"You're trying to find a Doctor to flirt with, aren't you?"  
  
Gwaine feigned innocence and  ruffled her hair, got fast enough away, before she could kick him for it.  
  
"You're not actually my type, and I'm taken. ...Where is he, by the way?"  
  
At that it was Gwen's turn to blush, looking at him sheepishly.  
  
"We lost him on the way here..."  
  
"No we haven't..."  
  
"Not helping, Merlin, not helping."  
  
Not really looking impressed in the slightest Gwaine just burst out laughing, holding onto Merlin's shoulder to not fall over.  
  
"You two managed to lose him somewhere. The Great Detective and his part-time sidekick lost my boyfriend. Come on, I bet he's already there and waiting for us. -You do know that Leon and Lance are probably there by now as well?"  
  
"They better are, the whole meeting was Lancelot's idea."  
  
Now Merlin started to listen more attentively to his friends, who were still teasing one another about Percival's whereabouts. Lance being here meant that he had most definitively asked other friends of his, people who wore costumes on a daily basis, to come here as well.  
  
Of course, Merlin knew they had played rugby together, he would not be an actual friend if he did not remember that most of them had played in the same team for years, even outside their physical education classes. After all, there had always still been that one particular person he could not get out of his mind, he was always there.  
  
From the very first day on they had started fights, even the first one had been physical already, which had gotten both of them into detention. Even these hours the two of them were forced to spent together, their teachers and later on professors had apparently been thinking it would do them good, would get them to finally get closer.  
  
They had eventually once they were teenagers, certainly not the way the adults had intended them to and that had made their strange connection and relationship even worse.  
  
By now, Merlin had not spoken to him in years, hoped it stayed that way for at least some time.


	3. Chapter 3

Merlin did not know how it had happened, and yet he had eventually lost the entire group that had come here to meet up. Expect for a former colleague from when they used to work in the same coffee shop together, and even now he still sometimes called her Lady Vivian instead of just her first name or any other nickname and even after years and years they were still in rather amicable contact, had along the line become friends. Back when they went to school together, she had been slightly snobbish but once she was able to prove she could in fact work on her own she had showed a much softer side of herself.  
  
She had told Merlin a long time ago that her parents intended her to become a doctor, anything but the job she had eventually chosen herself, but her interests had been far from that and now the two of them sat together, chatting about the things they had been up to lately and joked about her and Gwen having practically switched the jobs their own parents wanted them to choose.  
  
Vivian had become a tailor, was amazing in dressmaking of all kinds and had by now build up somewhat of a promising reputation. She mostly worked on commissions and thus was hired by other cosplayers and sometimes even local theatres. With a raised brow she had inspected his suit and told him it was not actually custom-tailored with the intention to be solely worn by him.    
  
Shaking her head and tucking one strand of her hair behind her ears she looked up from the headdress she had been fixing for a friend and grinned at him, gesturing for him to sit down besides her.  
  
"Nasty habit, comes with the job. You do look stunning, Emrys."       
  
As much as he tried not to react to that compliment Merlin returned the smile, slightly abashed. For a while he thus watched the photo shoot next to them and waved at one of the people, he was certain to have recognized, waiting in line and were thus currently not posing for the photographer.  
  
"You too, I mean, you look really good."  
  
 "Not as pregnant as I am, you mean?" she teased, and Merlin paled a bit, which had obviously not been the reaction his friend had been waiting for. Her all of a sudden almost cold expression told him as such without her having to say a word.  
  
"Congratulations."  
  
He finally managed to utter, confused by the amused glint in her eyes his bewildered statement seemed to cause.  
  
"Merlin, I'm kidding. You're awfully slow today, aren't you? We've all been here for hours and Elena has been talking about becoming a mum ever since she got here, isn't she cute, my love."    
  
Oh, _oh_.  
  
Elena was Vivian's partner, the mysterious significant other she had promised to introduce to him for over a year now, and thus the one she must had been talking about all that time. The one she intended to marry. Not _him_.

"...And you're wrong again."  
  
She seemed to be hardly able to contain her amusement, having put the headdress aside completely by then, watching him carefully.

"I'm indeed going to be pregnant very soon, but I'll be her surrogate mother and despite that it is not actually her I'm dating..."

"It's not?", and there he was completely lost again, absolutely clueless without having the faintest idea what she was telling him right now.  
  
"Well, it's not only her... but well, also her girlfriend."

At that Merlin snorted, apologizing immediately after, when she actually did look affronted.  
  
"I'm not laughing about you, it's amazing to finally hear about the people you are with. It's actually making finally so much sense. That's why you never told me any name. Come on, Vivi, if they love you as much as you clearly care about them, that's all that matters. I'm not judging you, you're my friend. Congratulations...", then he abruptly stopped, once more realizing an important part, "Wait, her girlfriend as in the person she is going to marry, as in her betrothed?"

"Who even still uses that word?", she shook her head once more, by now seemingly having to stifle her laughter, "But yes, her fiancée as in  Mithian, the girl she has been with long befor they moved in together, they were never _just-roommates_."  

Merlin by then actually gaped at her, his mind almost blank.  
  
"But... but rumour has it Mithian is with Arthur Pendragon, people say they are engaged."  
  
He tried not to wince when she directed her all too knowing smile at him.  
  
"Ah, now we're talking about the right things. Well, at some point she used to be."  
  
Merlin pressed his lips together to not ask her to continue talking, he knew that she expected him to do exactly that. Still, he could not help it.  
  
"And?"  
  
"Now she obviously isn't anymore. She's as gay as him, seriously Merlin have you been living under a rock for the past years?"  
  
"Arthur's gay?"  
  
"Funny that you're the one who's asking... He is."  
  
"For the record, if anyone out there still cares, I'm not actually gay. ...Hi Vivi, good to see you've made it in time."  
  
Then the one, ironically dressed as John Hamish Watson, came closer and leaned down to kiss Vivian on the cheek, then was also grinning down at him, even though he all of a sudden wished to be anywhere but there.  
  
"I'm actually bi. Hello Merlin, long time no see."  



End file.
